


Chandeliers and Stardust

by obiwan824



Category: Ghost Quartet - Malloy, Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 - Malloy
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-01-28 10:39:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12604728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obiwan824/pseuds/obiwan824
Summary: A Ghost Quartet/ Great Comet/ Fairytales crossover type thing.





	1. The Bear

Natalya spun about the room, clutching a letter close to her chest. She twirled once more, skirt flailing out around her in a beautiful design, her lips parted and a breathless sigh escaping them, her face flushing pink and her eyes twinkling.   
She had never met anyone like this man- this man who was so handsome, so kind, so clever. He saw things she could never see, looked into the stars and saw patterns she never could, came up with secret meanings, deciphering the code hidden within the constellations.   
She had sung to him that night, that hidden, beautiful night. He had taken her away to a secret part of the home and pulled her onto the bed next to him, his fingers combing through her hair and planting forbidden kisses on her face and neck and collarbone, and had asked her to sing. She sang him something simple, something sweet, something not particularly wonderful but not particularly awful either. He closed his eyes, swaying to the beat, squeezing her hand tightly, fingers brushing over hers and tracing little stars on her smooth skin.   
“I wish I could sing like you,” he had whispered when she was finished, pressing his lips to her forehead and mumbling against her skin. “But I don’t practice enough.”   
Everything he did was a song, it its own way. It was beautiful and musical and sounded so very lovely against her ears. Natasha blushed and began to shiver at the very thought of the man coming up behind her, seizing her arms and pressing her flush against him, pressing his lips against the smooth, sensitive part of her neck, the way he had on that forgotten night so long ago.  
…  
“Come look at the stars, dear Pearl,” Anatole whispered, his voice so smooth and feminine and sweet and sincere- Pearl melted against her will, losing control of her limbs and letting him spin her into his arms, giggling as he began to sway, pulling her along in a simple waltz, her back pressed against his chest. “Come look at the stars, dear Pearl. Won’t you sing me a song, dear Pearl? Won’t you sing to me?”  
“How could you sister?” a voice broke the silence from across the roof. A lone figure, a slender girl bundled up in a thin cloak, began to yell. “How could you?”  
Pearl’s eyes widened. “He likes my singing, he likes my singing, that’s all-” she broke free from Anatole’s hold as he began to speak.  
“Wait, Natalie, we were never-”  
“I always knew you were shallow!” she screamed. Tears fell freely from her arms as she strode towards the pair, her face inches from Anatole’s. I always knew you didn’t know me. I always knew you didn’t believe in me.I always knew that I bored you.I always knew I wasn’t pretty enough to hold you! I always knew you’d go with someone smarter than me! I always knew your mind was elsewhere, I always knew you were a snob- I- I always knew you had your head in the stars!” she let out a quiet sob before turning to Pearl. “I always knew you and your books- you and your fucking books! I am not a puzzle- I am not some freaking logic puzzle for you to figure out! I am not a fucking game! You know what? Why don’t you just go and fuck all your books. Why don’t you go fuck all your fucking books, and we’ll see who’s smarter- we’ll see!”   
Natalya let out a growl at her sister before turning on her heel and bursting into sobs, running back into the house and out again. She never bothered to turn back, going instead deep into the woods. She ran and ran, tripping over roots and falling, scraping her knees, picking herself back up with blood running down her hands freely.   
An hour later, Natalya found herself in the darkest part of the forest, where the moon was covered by a thick blanket of trees and the clear, dark sky was hidden behind layers and layers of fluffy gray clouds. Without a candle or anything to light up the dark path, she fell to her knees and began to sob.  
“Hello there, little girl,” a growling, hoarse voice began to speak from behind her. Natasha whipped her head around, only finding a dark shadow of a figure. “Why are you out here so late at night, so near the cave of a bear?”  
“A bear?” Natasha finally spoke, her voice infused with fear. “What bear, good sir? I know only of one bear nearby, and surely I can’t be near his cave. I know of a grand animal indeed, good sir, one who knows spells and curses one human can only wish to learn.”  
“A very good creature, indeed!” the figure replied. The shadow stepped into the light, revealing itself as a tall, looming, hairy creature. A bear. “You speak kindly of me, little girl, you have heard the tales, then. You still have not answered my question- why do you find yourself in this part of the woods so late at night?”  
“My- my courter-” Natasha choked out, the naive girl having no qualms concerning telling her life story to a bear found in the forest. “I’ve- I’ve found him with my sister.”  
The bear would have softened, perhaps, had he been able to have such complex emotions. He tilted his head into the shadows so that she would not see his expression and rolled his eyes. “Oh, my dear girl, how I pity you! What is it you wish, little girl? Any magic you wish to have done, my dear, and I shall do it. However, it will come at a cost, dear girl, a very large cost, indeed!”  
Natalya thought for a moment, thought of the man who had enchanted her so dearly, but who had betrayed her. Her mind fell on Pearl, her sister who had hurt her so deeply. She shook her head. “Shall you kill someone for me, bear? Is that too much to ask?”  
The bear faltered. “Murder, little girl? Why, I didn’t think someone as innocent as you had it in them!”  
“Not just one person,” Natasha piped up. “Two, actually. Two people. My courter and my sister.”  
“Little girl, I am not a murderer!” the bear thought for a moment. “Do you think I am so rabid as to kill two innocent-”  
Natalya let out a sound he could not identify. “Innocent? I hardly find them innocent.” She pondered for a moment. “However- would you kill one, dear bear? Perhaps you could- kill my courter, perhaps, leave him in a cave, lock him there, and turn my sister into- into an animal of some kind, and leave her to starve so that she would be forced to peck out his eyes and eat them!”   
The bear let out a growl. “You are an interesting little girl. I will do it, dear girl, but it will come at a high cost. Are you ready?”  
“Of course.”  
“One pot of honey-” he began, and the girl scoffed. “That’s not all, little girl, pay attention. One pot of honey, one piece of stardust, one secret baptism, and a photo of a ghost.”  
Natasha bit her lip, furrowing her eyebrows. She tilted her head to the side, curls that had come loose from their intricate style falling in waves around her shoulders. “What does this mean, bear? How could I possibly find these things?”   
“It will not be easy, little girl, you must ask yourself- is it worth it?” Natalie nodded eagerly. “If it is, then you will find a way to get these items. This is all that I ask of you.”  
Natasha looked at him with wide, innocent eyes, her body shaking, taking in his claws and teeth and narrowed yellow eyes for the first time as he stepped further into the light. “O-okay- I- I will be back.” And she turned around and began to run, for if she were to get her revenge on Anatole Kuragin and the sister she had trusted with all of her heart, she would have to work quickly.  
“One pot of honey,” she whispered to herself as she began to run home. “Easy enough.”


	2. One Pot of Honey

“Are you quite alright?”  
Natalya was unsure how she had ended up asleep on the forest floor, but she assumed that at some point on her adventure home, she had fallen. She rubbed at her eyes, shook the sleep from them, and blinked sleepily until a blurry figure took form in front of her. A slender girl, wearing a simple black dress, one who kept her hair tied back in an intricate, neat braided bun of some sort.   
“I- I suppose-” Natasha let out a tiny yawn and propped herself up, brushing off her gown with a sleepy look in her eyes. As she studied the mystery girl in front of her, she couldn’t help but think that, although the girl looked familiar, she was also very pretty. “What is your name, then?”  
“Mary,” she said apprehensively, playing with a large cross hanging around her neck. “Princess Marya Bolkonskya. Who- who are you?”  
“Countess Natalya Rostova,” Natasha said, as if her title were something she was proud of, something she could boast about. She sat up, reaching for Mary’s hand and kissing the knuckles as she’d been taught to do when meeting a lovely woman. “It’s quite a pleasure to meet you, although the terms we are meeting on are- unsatisfactory. This might seem odd, my love, but do you- perhaps, by any chance, would you have some honey?”  
Mary seemed confused, something odd in her eyes. “I-I do, Natalya, but I can’t just give it away.”  
Natasha huffed and blew the hair out of her eyes, pouting. She quickly formulated a plan, her attempt at a seductive smile coming to her lips. “Well, come here, Mary, come here- sit down,” she said, pointing to a smooth tree trunk flattened into the perfect seat. “Let me sit on your lap, Mary!”  
The princess seemed hesitant as she took a seat, letting Natasha sit on her lap. Mary wrapped her arms around Natalya with a gentle, tender touch, filled with a certain affection and a certain fear.   
“Mary, if I told you I loved you, would you give me some honey?” Natalya asked, looking at Marya with her wide, innocent eyes. Mary softened, her eyes brightening, the corners of her lips turning up.  
“Oh, Natalya, I suppose-” she paused. “If you really did love me, dear Natalya, perhaps I would.”   
Natasha smiled. “Oh, Mary, I do love you, I know I do!” She reached for Mary’s hand again and pulled it close to her lips, taking Marya’s thumb and sticking it into her mouth, her lips attaching around the finger and beginning to suck. A surprised, blushing Mary began to laugh, unsure how else to approach the situation.  
“Natalya, darling, what are you doing?” Mary adjusted her grip, holding the girl tighter as she began to fall more in love.   
“Do you believe in love, Mary, do you believe in love?”  
Marya sighed. “Natalya, I am a soldier, I have just returned from the war. I am a soldier, I don’t believe in anything. I fought in a war and- oh, Natasha, I believe in nothing, yet I believe in love. I do love you, dear Natasha.”  
Natalie smiled and leaned forward, placing her lips against Mary’s in a gentle way. When she looked to the side, Natasha found a flask of wine and a small gun sitting on the trunk beside them, items that hadn’t been there before. Natalie knew it was the bear who had left them there, and as she parted from Marya, she reached for the flask and brought it to Mary’s lips.  
“Drink, sweet Marya, drink, and we shall be wed tomorrow. We shall be wed and you shall give me some honey, yes? And we shall be happy, dear Marya, now drink!”  
Mary obliged, taking a long sip from the flask before pulling away, not a fan of alcohol. She handed it back to Natasha, who took a small sip, almost choking on it, and threw it far away from them, giggling. The alcohol created a warm, bubbly feeling in her stomach and she felt more affectionate, dizzier and more in love.  
“Oh, Marya, I love you-” and with that, Natalya realized that a moment longer and she would fall too deeply in love with the princess, with the soldier, with Mary, that she would regret killing the girl. Natasha reached for the gun in a quick movement and, pressing her lips to Marya’s one last time in a drunken kiss, shot the pistol into Marya’s back. Mary let out a cry before her hand landed on Natasha’s cheek in an affectionate gesture.  
“I do love you, Natasha. I won’t say a word. I won’t come back to haunt you. I won’t have the time.” And Mary died, Natalie found the honey, and the first item was checked off of the list.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is also bad


	3. Subway

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay one thing to note is that this is a different timeline from the one we've seen so far- most of the time when she falls asleep she's in a different timeline, so this chapter takes place in two different timelines (one where it's very similar to the one in the past two chapters but Pearl isn't real, and another where it's modern time and Pearl is real again.) Another thing is I changed a couple things that we hear about in Subway the song? If you like this feel free to tell me because I'm depressed and gay and I only stay alive for attention. Cool.

Natalya returned home, knowing Pearl would be out at this time of day and Anatole wouldn’t dare show his face near her home again.   
As she padded into the living room, quiet as possible, she found a crowd of people in the main room. Marya D, wrapped up in a shawl with knitted eyebrows and fear in her eyes, her lips messily painted red instead of the precision Natasha had grown used to. Helene, a young woman Natasha knew a bit too well through her brother, Anatole, was wrapped in Marya’s arms, curled up to her side so that her face was hidden. Pierre, a stout man Natasha was rather fond of, sat stiffly in an armchair across from Marya and her lover. And Sofia, the nervous wreck of a girl, was pacing the room, tears seemed to be pouring down her cheeks.   
All four of them looked up at her as she entered, their eyes widening. Marya’s eyes narrowed, however, standing up and detaching herself from Helene.   
“Natalya. Where in the world have you been? I’ve been worried sick.” She gestured to the room. “We all have.”  
“Does it matter?” Natasha spat bitterly, her mind wandering. Marya faltered and the others winced- Natasha had never used such a tone against anyone.   
“What’s that in your hand?” Marya asked. Natasha held up the pot of honey with an extravagant gesture, showing off the liquid. “Natasha, what is that- is that blood all over you?”   
Natasha shook her head, already moving towards her rooms. “I can’t begin to explain, Marya, you would never believe me!”  
“Don’t you see what you’re doing to this family? Look at your poor cousin, she hasn’t stopped crying since you disappeared!”  
“What I’m doing to the family?” Natalie cried. She shook her head. “Why don’t you ask Pearl?”  
The room fell silent, the people fell still.   
“Pearl?” Marya asked. She began to shake her head slowly. “Natasha, you- you haven’t spoken of Pearl since you were a child- Pearl White?”  
Natasha furrowed her eyebrows. “Why do you act so confused? Pearl! My sister!” when nobody spoke, she let out a sound of annoyance. “Fine! Play these jokes on me, I don’t care! I have other things to think about!”  
And with that she ran to her rooms, locking the door behind her and settling down on her bed in a fit of tears. She threw the honey to the side, rubbing Mary’s blood off of her hands, and began to sob harder. Why wouldn’t they answer her? Surely they hadn’t forgotten Pearl? Pearl, the sister Natasha had had since she was a child?  
Meanwhile, Marya stood outside Natasha’s door, more confused than ever. She had never seen her goddaughter in a state like this before.   
Natasha sobbed until she fell asleep, and when she woke up, the room was different. The satin sheets and thick blankets that had been there before were made of cotton, pulled tightly around her shoulders, the shades that hadn't been there before drawn shut. The girl stretched and yawned, snuggling deeper into the warm fabric.   
However, the pressing need to get the next item for the bear overcame her sleepiness. She pulled herself out of bed, took off the clothes from the day before, and pulled on new ones. She left her rooms still yawning, her feet dragging.   
“Good morning, Natasha,” Sonya greeted happily from her spot on the couch where she was reading a novel. Natalya nodded a greeting, taking her camera bag and purse from the table.   
“Have you seen Pearl?” she asked scornfully.  
Sofia shook her head without looking up. “I haven’t seen her in two days. She hasn’t said a word to me.”  
Natalya’s smile grew. “Perfect. I’ll see you tonight, Sonya, Marya’s bringing dinner home, right?”  
“Right. Where are you going?”  
“Just to take some photos,” Natasha said, walking out the door and closing it behind her. She adjusted her sweater sleeves. Natalie chose to walk, deciding she might see something worthy of photographing anywhere.   
As she approaches a subway, deciding interesting things are always happening by the subway, she heard a voice screaming. An odd man, far too close to the subway tracks for his own good, was yelling about the apocalypse. He turned to her, wide, bloodshot eyes locking with Natalya’s. She shrunk back and continued to walk, unsettled by the way his luminous eyes followed her slim body as she moved. It was when she heard him scream again she turned her head, tossing her hair over her shoulder, and noticed another girl. She was about Natasha’s age, with short brown hair and a yellow sundress.   
The girl was lovely and looked so odd, playing a game on her phone so close to the tracks and ignoring the man screaming just inches from her, that Natasha was hit with inspiration. She whipped out her camera, aiming, looking through the lens to study the girl further.  
The girl’s eyes were narrowed, her forehead scrunched up in concentration and frustration, focused on the screen. She was a soldier, one with hair braided back in an intricate bun under a helmet, one whose eyes were blank and lifeless yet so longing for love. And there was a bear, a bear standing tall on its hind legs, teeth bared and claws sharpened. Natasha could see all of this on the girl’s phone, through her camera lens.   
And then something changed in the wide eyes of the screaming man. He turned from Natalie to the girl on her phone and, as a train approached, pushed her down. The girl let out some sort of shriek, dropping her phone and not noticing as it smashed to thousands of pieces. She fell to the tracks, rolling a bit before coming to a stop, scratches all over her arms. The subway grew closer, and when it was inches from the girl, who was now trying to crawl up the sides of the tracks, scrambling to get up, Natasha snapped a photograph. The girl turned and locked eyes with Natasha for one terrifying moment before the train ripped through her and all fell silent.  
Natalya printed the photo, shaking it out, waiting for the photo to appear. She turned away from the subway and the pusher, not wanting to look at the mess anymore. She wondered for only a moment if she should have helped, but something changed in her as the photo formed- she had the photo of a ghost. Although she was in a different timeline, although she didn’t remember the bear or the soldier or the honey, she felt some sort of satisfaction in her heart. A man walked by her, knocking his shoulder into her as he swaggered by, and her camera crashed to the ground.   
Natalya shrieked and reached for the broken pieces, but another frantic woman, running towards the subway and the dead girl with tears streaming down her cheeks, stepped on the pieces, smashing them further. Natalie let out a little cry before she put the finished photo in her bag and headed towards the nearest camera shop. She would just have to get a new one.


	4. The Camera Shop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying

And at the camera shop, Natalya was suddenly hesitant to enter. As she entered the empty store, a bell went off. There was something off about the store, but her demeanor changed when a bubbly young woman came out from behind a curtain at the back of the store.   
“Hello there! Can I help you?”  
Natalya bit her lip. “I hope so- I lost my camera.”   
“Did someone steal it?”  
“No- it got smashed.”  
The woman thought. “Maybe we could repair it-”  
“No, it got- smashed and lost. The, um, pieces are lost.”  
“I’m sorry,” the woman said thoughtfully. She reached behind the counter and took out a flask. “Here, have some whiskey!”  
Natasha smiled a bit and took a sip thankfully. “Thank you.” As her lips attached to the flask, images of another woman, one very similar-looking, taking a sip flashed across her memory.   
“It was a real camera? Not a phone?” the woman asked.  
“Not a phone.” Natalie huffed out a laugh, thinking of Sonya, who spent every minute of every day on her phone, or of the young girl who had been on her phone, distracted, when she died. “I do not like phones.”  
“Me neither,” the woman said kindly. “Well, we’ll get you all set up with a new camera. But first, sit and drink a bit. You need to take care of yourself.”  
“Thank you…?” Natalya trailed off in confusion. She took a seat, taking another sip of the whiskey and beginning to study the shop.   
The woman began to speak. “This store has been in my family for four generations. See that fiddle on the wall? It began to my great-grandmother. Her name was Natalya-”  
“Natalya?” the other girl interrupted. “Well, that’s my name!”  
“It’s a beautiful name. Old-fashioned, Russian, you don’t hear it a lot anymore.”  
Natasha studied the fiddle. “The color is so light, what’s it made of?”  
“An old breastbone!” the woman replied with a giggle.  
“Creepy,” Natalie muttered, turning away.   
“It was the breastbone of her sister, her name was Pearl- I’ll tell you the tale.” the woman cleared her throat and began to speak. “Natalya and Pearl, they lived in a large house in Moscow with their cousin Sofia. They spent every minute together, with the utmost trust.”  
“That sounds like me and my sister,” Natasha commented, closing her eyes to listen to the story. Something about it seemed familiar.   
“Natalie loved a man who lived in the trees, and she wanted to hold his hand. So she wrote him a poem, signed it and sealed it, in a rice paper envelope with a lily for a stamp. But the man stole her work, and Pearl caught his eye, and Natalie grew to hate him.”   
“I’m a little confused,” Natasha admitted. “And more than a little frightened.”  
The woman smiled. “It’s okay my dear, this is a circular story. And so Natalie ran into the forest and asked a great bear to maul Anatole, and to turn the cruel sister into a black crow and put the crow and the corpse in a cave until the crow started to starve, and she’d have no choice but to peck out the eyes of her lover and eat them!”  
“I don’t believe any of this!” Natasha cried.  
“Don’t you remember? The bear named his price- one pot of honey, one piece of stardust, one secret baptism, and a photo of a ghost-”  
Natasha grew more confused, wondering why these items sounded so familiar to her. She looked down at the photo in her bag as the woman continued to speak.  
“She stole the honey from a soldier she pretended to love-”   
“Marya,” Natasha whispered, wondering why the name rolled off her tongue so easily at the idea of the soldier.  
“She stole the stardust from an ancient she pretended to care, and for the baptism? She stole a child from its mother, a frightened teenager in a mansion, and took the child into the sea- and the child was blessed.”  
“I have to go,” Natalie said suddenly, standing up so quickly black played the edges of her vision. The woman stood up, too.  
“But, your camera-”  
“I have to go!” Natasha repeated more forcefully, and she left the shop, holding the photo more tightly still in her hands. As she walked past a display, she stole a camera, ignoring the protests from the shop owner. Next up was the piece of stardust, and at least now, she had an idea of how to get it.


	5. One Piece of Stardust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’ll never leave me, right, Natasha?” Pearl asked softly, for how could she continue her attempt at survival without her sweet sister by her side?  
>  “Of course not, dear sister, I shall never leave your side.” Natalya moved closer still to her sister, burying her face in her shoulder. “By the time I leave, you will have escaped, and we will be living a lovely life together.”  
>  “What shall we be doing, Natalie?” asked Pearl.  
>  A dreamy look came to Natalya’s face. “We shall live in Russia, sister,” said Natasha. “We will live in Moscow, we will have a large house, we shall spend the rest of our days wearing beautiful gowns and going to operas and balls, we shall be rich and happy!”  
>  “Ah, to be rich and happy,” sighed Pearl, for even before she was captured by the king, only allowed to see her sister once a week, she had been a simple girl in a simple village, one who read and read and longed for adventure in far away places. Pearl held Natasha tighter, for Natalie was a dreamer, Natalie was innocent and naive and couldn’t possibly understand how difficult it would be for Pearl to escape. Still, she held her, and let herself think of a future. 
> 
> Somewhat based on Beauty and the Beast. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like in the summary, this is kind of based on Beauty and the Beast. I've been focusing on my NaNoWriMo, which I'll be posting here when it's done, so I haven't worked on this in a while, but here's the piece of stardust!! Enjoy :)

This version of Pearl found herself in books. She found herself in the action of flipping worn yellow pages, the smell of sweet perfume as she brought the cover to her nose, the movie playing out behind her eyes with spunky young women and confident young men as she read. This version of Pearl found solstice in the vibrant characters and distant worlds, not in the people surrounding her.   
This version of Pearl was now alone with a beast, with a terrible creature, a king who had captured her, a man was angry and brutal and could tear her to shreds in a matter of minutes.  
“Tell me a story,” he would say now, and Pearl obliged, because what more could she do?  
She had been alone with this creature for far too long, with only his company to satisfy her loneliness, until her sister appeared. Natalie was sweet and young, and sacrificed her sanity to stay with her sister. She would encourage Pearl to keep going, come up with new stories for her, for if Pearl were to stop telling him stories, he would surely kill her.  
The two girls were on Pearl’s simple bed now, Natalie having decided to spend the day with her sister in her prison. Natasha was curled into Pearl’s side, snuggled up close, and Pearl had her arms around the younger girl.  
“You’ll never leave me, right, Natasha?” Pearl asked softly, for how could she continue her attempt at survival without her sweet sister by her side?  
“Of course not, dear sister, I shall never leave your side.” Natalya moved closer still to her sister, burying her face in her shoulder. “By the time I leave, you will have escaped, and we will be living a lovely life together.”  
“What shall we be doing, Natalie?” asked Pearl.  
A dreamy look came to Natalya’s face. “We shall live in Russia, sister,” said Natasha. “We will live in Moscow, we will have a large house, we shall spend the rest of our days wearing beautiful gowns and going to operas and balls, we shall be rich and happy!”  
“Ah, to be rich and happy,” sighed Pearl, for even before she was captured by the king, only allowed to see her sister once a week, she had been a simple girl in a simple village, one who read and read and longed for adventure in far away places. Pearl held Natasha tighter, for Natalie was a dreamer, Natalie was innocent and naive and couldn’t possibly understand how difficult it would be for Pearl to escape. Still, she held her, and let herself think of a future.   
And then one day, Natalie was gone, Natasha, the sweet dreamer, was gone, and Pearl was alone with the beast again. She would cry for days and days, only stopping to tell the creature a story.  
“Tell me a story, Pearl,” he would say.  
Pearl would begin to play with the hem of her dress and let herself drift away. “And so Natasha left the camera shop with a brand new camera and the number of the subway driver written on her arm, and that is all I am permitted to say.”  
“When I kill you, I will miss you,” he growled and she looked up at him.  
“How will you grieve for me, oh Shah?”  
He paused. “I will command a great feast for the kingdom with the largest boar that the court has ever seen, and great oaken casks of honey sweet wine! And we’ll toast to the could-have-been queen. And when the feast is in full swing, I will take the largest cask, back to my room. And I’ll drink all alone in my room, and cry like a baby, and I’ll drink so much I get sick, and lie on the bathroom floor and drink some more.” He went on and on as Pearl slipped away, wondering how she could possibly escape her death.  
It was one of these horrible nights that an image appeared before Pearl.  
“Natasha?” Pearl gasped, for the ghost before her was surely her sister, only in more modern clothing, a sweater and plaid skirt.  
Natalya sat down, patting the seat behind her for Pearl to sit down. “Pearl, do you have any stardust?”   
Pearl bit her lip, pushing any confusion of seeing her sister. “I-I’m not sure how much I have left, he has used so much-”  
“Tell me a story, sweet sister,” Natasha whispered, deciding to use Pearl’s weakness to get the stardust.   
Pearl settled back and began to tell a story, not even realizing she was doing so, focusing only on the interest in Natasha’s eyes as she nodded. Meanwhile, the Rostova girl was bored out of her mind. She only wanted to get the stardust and leave so that she could have Pearl and Anatole dead by Friday. She hardly remembered the distant memories of being in this lifetime, being the sweet, naive sister of this woman.   
Finally, Pearl, finished, and her eyes widened. “That- that was my last piece of stardust.”  
Natasha smiled, a sick, twisted smirk. “Oops.” she checked stardust off of her mental list. All she needed was the secret baptism.   
Pearl stared after her sister as the ghostly figure walked away with wide, horrified eyes, dreading the future. Sure enough the Shah would be asking her for a story soon, and what would she do then?  
A few hours later, Natalie looked through the window and found Pearl’s dead body on the ground lying next to the Shah. She couldn’t help but smile- being responsible for her sister’s death in any timeline was a wonderful accomplishment, it provided a sense of pride no other task could. She watched as the Shah went to his room and she watched as he stared at the wall, his mind seemingly blank.  
“I’ll stay here for 42 years,” he mumbled. “Just like I promised her.” he was ashamed of himself. He had lost Natalie, his wife’s sister, and now he had killed Scheherazade. He figured 42 years of silence would do him good.  
Natasha couldn’t help but laugh to herself before curling up beneath a nearby tree and closing her eyes, drifting off.  
…  
Natasha woke up in an unknown timeline. This Natasha was scared, terrified, for she didn’t understand. She just wanted to get revenge on Anatole, she never wanted it to go this far. She wanted to just stay at home- she’d work it out. She would forgive Pearl, they’d live happily ever after. She’d forgive Anatole, maybe they could try again, or just become friends. She had let jealousy take over, and if she didn’t stop now, she’d regret it.  
Natalya decided that she must be in her original timeline. She bit her lip and, deciding to just be brave, headed towards Anatole’s house. The least she could do was talk to him.  
Anatole entered the door, blond hair messy and disheveled, wearing only a nightshirt and pants. His eyes widened upon finding her.  
“Natalie-” he studied her again, as if to see if it was really her, and then he cleared his throat, his voice so raw from not speaking for so long. “Natalie, darling, is it- is that really-”  
“I came to apologize,” she said, voice clear and confident. He paled and swung upon the door so that she could enter.  
The house looked the same as always, messy and yet cozy, it was all so very- Anatole. She studied it and felt a bit of warmth enter her heart, she softened, felt, for once, at ease.  
“Why would you apologize, Natalie?” Anatole spoke up, confused. She spun around to face him, realizing she’d been gazing at the living room for far too long, and locked eyes with him. “It was- me who was in the wrong. All my life I’ve had my choice of women, I could be with one and still pursue another. It was- never a matter of if. I should have-” he choked up. “Should have realized you were different. I love you, Natalie, and I- would you give me another chance?”  
Natasha brightened. Perhaps a few days earlier she would have agreed, would have melted under his tender gaze and ran into his arms, let him hold her, tell her she was special, sing for him as they gazed at the stars. But she was no longer the innocent little girl she had been. She was a murderer, a fierce nymph seeking revenge.   
“I-” she paused and chewed her lip, trying to word it. She tilted her head to the side. “I’ll miss you when you’re gone, Tolya.” With that she turned and walked out, unable to look at his sad, loving blue eyes any longer.  
She just needed the baptism. Just the baptism, and they would be dead, and she could forget about it.  
Just one more item.

**Author's Note:**

> hey this is bad but


End file.
